Alex Steyermark started in the film business as a music supervisor working with directors like Spike Lee, Robert Rodriguez and Ang Lee. His debut film as director was Prey for Rock & Roll. His latest picture, One Last Thing, is the second film to have the DVD and theatrical release so close to another. It tells the story of 16 year-old Dylan Jameison [Michael Angarano] who has terminal cancer. When the charitable organization "United Wish Givers" grants Dylan a last wish, he initially chooses to go fishing with his football hero, Jason O'Malley [Johnny Messner]. In a moment of inspiration during the locally televised news conference, Dylan changes his mind and reveals that his actual final wish is to spend a weekend with the supermodel Nikki Sinclair [Sunny Mabrey].

AS: I kept referring to her as my blonde conscience. She always made sure that I didnt compromise any of my ideas.

DRE: You had a lot of music experience before you started directing movies but One Last Thing didnt have anything to do with music. Was doing this film a conscious effort to get away from that?

AS: Just a little bit. I had done Prey For Rock and Roll, which obviously is very music-driven. In fact, we did a great sneak preview in LA on that in conjunction with SuicideGirls, which was fun. But the thing that I got out of doing Prey For Rock and Roll, that really took me by surprise, was how much I loved working with actors. Besides the fact that One Last Thing was written by somebody that Ive known since I was 12 years old, I saw that the script was just a goldmine in terms of acting opportunities. That really drove me to it. Also I did like that it was so completely different from the other film. Its also probably the most wholesome movie Im ever going to make.

DRE: What appealed to you about the script besides the acting opportunities?

AS: Ive known [screenwriter] Barry [Stringfellow] since I was a kid really and the script is a response to his own fathers death from cancer. But he did it in the way that he knows how to do it the best, comedy. He wrote humor that I thought was just very smart and helped balance the script. On the one hand, this teenager confronting death is potential heavy material, but he found a way to deal with it with a gentle touch that wasnt cheesy or tacky. As much as the film deals with death, it also celebrates life and really encourages everybody to live life to the fullest while they can.

DRE: That was also a part of Barrys previous work on Perfect Strangers. Balki Bartokomous was always celebrating life.

AS: Yeah.

DRE: Im sorry. Thats just a dig.

A lot of musicians who write screenplays say that musical beats and such play a big part in their writing. Do you have the same feeling?

AS: Oh, very much so. I use that analogy all the time certainly when Im writing. I look at it in terms of orchestration and symphonic composition. Its like instruments or sounds or voices that appear at certain points and looking into where you have to have them reappear. A movie is a much longer format than a song, but its sustaining that core idea to the entire length of the movie.

DRE: Since youve known Barry for such a long time, did the film mirror your life at all?

AS: A little bit. First of all, we both grew up about a mile from Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, which is where Michael Angarano and Cynthia Nixons characters come from. Barry lives in LA but I live in New York which has always been this land of possibility. When I was in high school I used to come up here as often as I could. Theres a fable-like quality to Dylans trip to New York on this quest for his ideal love. Then just how the guys relate to one another, I remember Barry and I being like that. We always were giving each other shit.

DRE: I first really noticed Michael in Lords of Dogtown where he played someone else that had terminal cancer, could you talk about casting him?

AS: We actually cast him before Lords came out. In fact, I didnt even know that he was playing someone with cancer. Id tease him that in his next movie hes going to play a cancer specialist. I have watched his career. I saw him in Seabiscuit and I thought he was great. Almost Famous was probably the first time I really became aware of him. Hes an actor who in spite of how young he is, has a tremendous amount of experience and in spite of all that experience, hes remarkably unaffected. Hes just a genuine, very clear-headed individual and very mature. At the same time hes still very innocent and clearly is having a great time doing what hes doing. From my very first conversation with him, I was struck by his intelligence and his wisdom. In terms of working with him, I think those qualities and the fact that hes so direct and in touch with his own thoughts is really a fantastic thing. Hes also very aware of whats happening around him at any time. Hes very in the moment.

DRE: Since this was only your second feature, how confident were you in your direction?

AS: I loved it. Prey For Rock and Roll was a joy. I love directing. I had originally gone to film school. After doing a bunch of things like editing and working as a cameraman for awhile, I got drawn into the music side of things, which I loved. I got to work with great directors and many of whom are my mentors. But when it came time to do Prey For Rock and Roll, I was just chomping at the bit and really ready to do it. I had a great and very supportive cast on that. The truth is that Im most happy when Im directing. Its the only time when my synapses are firing on all cylinders. I just love it. Theres nothing Id rather be doing than making a movie.

DRE: I interviewed Johnny Messner a couple years ago and he wasnt rude to me but he said a lot of rude stuff about a lot of people in the industry. What made you think of Johnny for this role?

AS: Johnnys funny. I like to joke and say hes cursed with this amazing physique. Hes an incredible physical presence, but a really fine actor. I think he really wants to be taken seriously and I know that was what drew him to this script. The actor in that role had to be someone who has those looks and that physical presence in order to play a football player. For me, casting is the most critical part. Everyone has to be completely convincing. I met with Johnny in LA early on and I was just impressed with his intelligence and his references to really cool indie movies that he loved. I really enjoy working with him. Of course hes got that incredible voice.

DRE: Do you know people that if they had this cancer would ask to spend time with a hot model rather than with a football player?

AS: I think the writer would. It was interesting because Barry said that as he was trying to figure out how to deal with his own fathers cancer, he was trying to find the right framework for the story. He had heard about this kid who for his last wish was to be able to shoot a bear. He was amazed at how controversial that had become. I think the kid was just asking for what he really wanted.

DRE: What are you doing next?

AS: Im working on two projects. One of them is the adaptation of the William Gibson science fiction novel Idoru and I just finished the screenplay. Thats very close to happening so Ill keep my fingers crossed. Im also developing a project based on the novel How Soon is Never, which was written by Marc Spitz. Its about a guy whos turning 30 and thinks he can get his life back together again if he could only reunite The Smiths. Its a very funny, darkly comic and also very sweet ode to rock and roll although its a lot edgier than this.

DRE: Is Idoru going to be done on a lower budget?

AS: Were talking about doing it as a Japanese anime film. So thats not going to be as big a budget as a live action film. Idoru was a book that Id read when it first came out in 1996 and I always thought it had potential as a movie. I just approached Gibson and it turned out that the rights were available so I optioned the book and wrote the script. That was a challenge because his work is very dense. The Wachowski brothers blatantly and would acknowledge that they stole a lot of his best ideas from Mona Lisa Overdrive and Neuromancer and incorporated it into The Matrix. Hes not the father of cyberpunk but I always thought this book had a lot of potential as a movie and hopefully its going to happen soon.

DRE: Are you writing the screenplay for How Soon is Never?

AS: No, Marc is doing it. Ive been working with him, but I wanted him to do it because I think that hes got a unique voice. I really wanted to preserve that in the script.

DRE: Do you have any music biography films you want to do?

AS: Reagan Youth is one of them. Id love to do that film. I think its a great story about surviving the Reagan years as a teenager set against the story of a real band.

Alex Steyermark started in the film business as a music supervisor working with directors like Spike Lee, Robert Rodriguez and Ang Lee. His debut film as director was Prey for Rock & Roll. His latest picture, One Last Thing, is the second film to have the DVD and theatrical release so close to another....